Pray for those who are facing challenges to their positions in research/higher education. Pray for those who are losing positions and those seeking positions.

This evening I received a call regarding one who has lost a position today. Rejoice with me that God is a visible healing presence through His people. Pray for renewal and the realization that worth is not based on position, but being created in the image of God and renewed/restored in Jesus the Christ. Pray for healing and discernment in next steps. As you have prayer requests related to higher education, email http://www.intervarsity.org/contact/emerging-scholars-network.

Best Christian Books of All Time Reviews: Knowing God, Pt. II (John Hundley. Emerging Scholars Network Blog. 4/25/2013). It is so good to be reminded of some of the significant points of this excellent InterVarsity Press book -- foundational not only in my first steps as a Christ-follower and many friends at Grove City College, but for many others (including those with whom I labored with at Carnegie Mellon U when they were students). To God be the glory!

"It's better to live lives of joy, lives of neighborly care, lives full of what St John calls agape, or nurturing love, than to live lives constricted by fear. My gratitude goes out to everyone who ran with me, and to the reporters who covered it, and to all people everywhere, who bring joy to the world." -- Excerpt from "Joy Run" (David O'Hara. Slowly Percolating Forms. 4/22/2013).

Comment: Yes, on Sunday in Lancaster County, PA, I too joyfully got out of the house and ran with two of my girls (teenage twins). It had been the first time in a long time that I ran. What a joy to just step out the front door and run :) Yes, I should do this more often with interested parties.

I took the opportunity to discuss with my girls a life filled with the love and joy of God instead of fear when living life in the face of events such as what happened last week in Boston.* One of the twins was still with me to turn around at the landfill on our road, of which we receive a constant reminder by the regular stream of trash trucks going past our front door -- good to run on their "off day"! The landfill brought up the topic of the junk of our lives (multiple levels) and Creation Care**, digging deeper into good soil as we moved from the landfill to farms.

It's a good thing we discussed Creation Care. On Monday evening I learned that Earth Day still hasn't made to the screen of our school district. I remember when I was in high school and a group of us pushed to make Creation Care a concern.*** Maybe the time has come to once again be an advocate in the school district. Whatever the situation in your neighborhood/community, if you missed the opportunity to run and/or discuss these topics earlier this week, I encourage you to start the race. To God be the glory!

PS. Thank-you to David (Joy Run) and Dorothy (Creation Care) for their inspiration!

**Click here for a helpful piece from the National Association of Evangelicals and here for some pertinent InterVarsity Press books at 30% off :)

***As some of you know (even remember), Creation Care was a significant part of the inspiration of my study of Biology at Grove City College. I should "un-earth" some of the photos from that "era," particularly with Marietta Day only a few weeks away :)

Yesterday Heather, InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministry (GFM), shared some of her response to the events of Boston Marathon 2013 (Emerging Scholars Network Blog. 4/21/2013). Today Michael, another colleague with GFM, provides additional insight with a focus on international students (Emerging Scholars Network Blog. 4/21/2013). I urge you to continue to join me in prayer for the discernment of InterVarsity colleagues who serve and students/faculty who are involved with our over 50 chapters in the Boston area.

We [InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA] are sad to confirm that Lingzi Lu, one of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, was a friend of members of our InterVarsity International Student Ministry at Boston University and attended a retreat last fall at Toah Nipi Retreat Center. Join us in praying for her family and the chapter at BU.

The University is closed and classes are cancelled today. Please stay inside and avoid windows. Be attentive to news developments. BU police will be patrolling the campus and monitoring the situation. Updates will follow as information becomes available. Please monitor BU Today at bu.edu/today.

Pray for God's insight both to Carol as she presents and Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church as they receive what she has to share with us.* If you are in South Central PA and do not have other obligations, please feel free to join us for part/all of the morning . . .

*Carol Kaminski, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Kaminski believes that the Church desperately needs to renew its commitment to teach the Old Testament. Her CASKET Timeline, CASKET EMPTY: God's Plan of Redemption Through History, part of the CASKET EMPTY Bible Series (http://www.casketempty.com), enables people to see visually how the Old Testament story progresses through six major redemptive periods, enabling them to locate key people, events, and biblical books in their historical-redemptive context. Her forthcoming book, Was Noah Good?: Finding Favour in the Flood Narrative, is due to be released this spring. Looking forward to reviewing these materials.

We rejoice in your loving care and prayerful partnership with our family as we engage in the Gospel mission. As we seek to improve our sharing of the mission

we're rolling out a new monthly prayer/newsletter format -- click here for a PDF of our April prayer/event calendar.

Note: We would love to have your feedback not only on the new newsletter format, but also other ways that we can better communicate our labors via http://www.groshlink.net, Facebook, etc. If you are not already receiving this communication by email and you desire to do such, please email us.

we're hosting a gathering in South Central PA with author Keri Wyatt Kent on Tuesday, May 14, 7 pm at Elizabethtown Brethren in Christ Church. For more information on "Deeply Loved: Extending the Heart of Jesus with Tom & Theresa Grosh," please visit the Groshlink and/or Facebook event posts.

As you may remember our fiscal year ends on June 30. Due to the economy and some shifts in support by some local congregations we are presently $6,071 short of raising our annual campus ministry budget of $100,000. I'll give a summary of our year end projected giving in May. We continue to trust the LORD for his provision. He has always supplied for our needs above and beyond our human based expectations. If you have the ability to partner with us financially, please visit https://donate.intervarsity.org/donate/to/Tom_Grosh.

TY to Mike for the genesis and running of ESN's form of March Madness, the many enthusiastic participants who made it a blast(!), and Andy for participating/assessing! The book reading and discussion continues . . . to the glory of God. I'll try my best to keep you updated on Groshlink, but I'd encourage you to subscribe to the ESN Blog and ESN Facebook Wall to keep up with the growing on-line community.

The two finalists for the Best Christian Book of ALL TIME have been chosen. Who will win? These two titles (and many of the others in the tournament) have been a great blessing in drawing me closer to Christ, how about you. Anyone interested in an on-line book discussion on one/both in coming months?

Yes, it's the FINAL FOUR . . . of the Best Christian Book of ALL TIME Tournament! The voting has begun and the conversation/commentary continue. AND yes, a number of people have let us know that they are already sharpening their skills and preparation for an upgraded ESN March Madness in 2014 ;)